


Human Experience

by whereismygarden



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/M, Gen, Rumbelle Secret Santa, Rumbelle Secret Santa 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 13:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5458892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whereismygarden/pseuds/whereismygarden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Belle French is assigned to two aliens captured on the planet K15-03. There are supposed to be no sentient species on the planet, but she has a feeling all is not as it is reported to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Experience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheStraggletag](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStraggletag/gifts).



> Rumbelle Secret Santa 2015: hope you like it Strag, I was pumped to get your prompt. I wish it could have been longer but I decided to rewrite at the last minute and well, here it is!

                There are so many frustrating things with the way he is now. For one, he can’t remember his own name, or the name of the other one like him. He can’t remember how long this has been the case, either. He can’t really speak: everything comes out too low, undifferentiated. He can communicate with the other one, by the way she smells and moves and hisses, but not with anyone else. Not with the soldiers who moved down into their foggy valley with its ample birds and fruits, and took them both.

                ~

                Belle is excited to be off shuttle and space station postings, down on a planet at last. K15-03, or the “Enchanted Forest” for its tree-covered continent and cloud forest climate, has real gravity, real sunlight, and ample water. It’s luxurious to take a shower with fresh water and eat fresh fruit for breakfast.

                Her assignment, though, is stressful. Dr. Blue is away, leaving Drs. Whale and Mills in charge of everything, and though her expertise is in microbes, she’s been pulled in to examine the two human-sized aliens captured by the troops exploring and securing the valley to the west of the colonists’ town.

                One is bigger than the other, though not my much. Aside from that, there isn’t much to differentiate them. They are humanoid, much more human-looking than the sentient species the government is treating with on K04-12. It’s unsettling, even though they move more like frightened animals than people.

                “The initial expedition forty years did a sweep and found no indigenous fauna larger than a coyote,” Whale is saying, standing in front of the reinforced-glass room they’re held in. “Possibly they were hibernating deep in stone caves, and were missed.”

                “They’re wearing clothes,” Belle says, hugging herself. “They must be sentient.”

                “Treat them like prisoners then,” Regina says, hands on her hips.

                “But—“ That’s in violation of their rights as initial inhabitants of the planet. Whale jabs her in the side, and Regina walks out, coat swishing behind her.

                “She and Blue have pressure from the government,” he mutters. “They don’t want to leave this planet, after all the resources they’ve put into it.”

                “There are only a few hundred colonists,” Belle replies. She doesn’t want to go in and take blood and tissue samples from them. They’re at the back of the door, the bigger one crouching on the floor, the smaller one perched on the built-in examination table. Whale shrugs.

                Belle takes her swab sticks, grabs him by the arm, and opens the door to the room. Both of the aliens shift, and get to their feet. She stops, closing the door, and doesn’t come closer.

                “Open up, Whale,” she says, and Whale obligingly opens his mouth. She rubs the inside of his cheek with a swab, and then sticks it inside a test tube, showing the aliens what she’s doing. “Okay. Hopefully they got that.”

                The bigger one gets to its feet, making a high-pitched chirping sound, as Belle approaches. It’s wearing a loose robe-like garment that seems to be made of moss and natural fibers. Its bare feet are broader than a human’s, with longer toes and rough diamond-shaped scales. Still, the big toe is set close to the others, more human than other primates she’s seen. It has longish, straggly hair, also very human in its growth. The whole thing makes Belle very uncomfortable.

                “Please,” she says uncertainly, and opens her mouth to demonstrate, raising her swab stick towards its mouth. The alien complies, even lowering its head somewhat: it’s taller than she is. As soon as she reaches into its mouth with the stick, the other one darts forward so fast she startles, and Whale rushes forward.

                The smaller alien (which is still taller than she is, standing up) has its hand around her arm, in a strong, almost painful grip. Its hand has broad, heavy nails, but the scales on the palm are soft, almost like a snake’s belly, in contrast to the rougher scales on the back of its hand. The bigger alien makes a quiet chirp, shoving the smaller one gently. It lets go of Belle’s arm, giving her a look with filmy reptilian eyes. Belle finishes taking the cheek sample with shaking hands, Whale’s breathing nervous behind her.

                Another tube in her pocket, she turns to the smaller alien. It leans its head back, but the other gestures at it, and it comes forward, letting her take the sample.

                “Thank you,” she says, still uncomfortable treating the pair of them as test subjects. They can do blood tomorrow. Whale will have to be guinea pig again. The alien just tilts its head at her and its mouth twitches, in what could be a smile if it didn’t expose sharp, dirty teeth.

~

                She does DNA extraction from both tissue samples, freezing the DNA. Dr. Blue gets annoyed if people do sequencing without her, no matter how simple a matter it is. Then she uses the unused tissue for bacterial culture, setting the streaked plates to grow and tell her what exactly grows in these aliens’ mouths.

                “It really disturbs me that they don’t have names,” she says to Whale. “We don’t even know their sex.” The two aliens look very similar: one is more gold-green, and the other has a blackish tinge. Dr. Mills wants to do physical examinations, but they don’t take off their robes. None of the three researchers are eager to make them.

                “They don’t eat, at least not often, so they’re likely quite reptilian. They don’t have much sex differentiation in many species. The bigger one could be a female.”

                Their room is warm, so at least they’re not killing their subjects. While Belle is waiting for her cultures to grow, Whale manages to get blood samples and listen to their hearts.

                “They sound human, too,” he says. “I want Blue to get back, so she can figure out what to do.”

~

                While they wait, Belle has other projects to work on, but it’s cruel to leave what are clearly two sentient beings locked in a bare room. So she takes some pencils and paper into the room, and stands at the counter to try symbolic logic.

                Both of them clearly recognize the paper and pencil, but the bigger one—she’s taken to calling them ‘Shadow’ because of their darker scales, after the first shuttle she flew on—just huddled in the corner, giving her sour looks. She and Whale have decided that they’re both depressed: Shadow sits despondently, and the smaller one—Spinner, for their pacing and tendency to pick at the fibers of their robe—paces and climbs and hits the walls.

                “Spinner?” she offers them the pencil, and they reach out a clawed hand, grasping it clumsily. They manage to get a few lines down, then hiss in their throat, slamming their palm against the table. The pencil snaps in their hand, and Belle flinches back when Spinner throws the pieces.

                They make a low, soft trilling sound a moment later, touching her hand, and she recognizes it as reassurance. Shadow shakes their head, making a complicated series of sounds at Spinner.

                “It’s okay,” she says, patting their hand. Spinner is more likely to engage with her and Whale than Shadow. “You just startled me.” Spinner makes the trill again, and to her surprise, leans their head on her shoulder for a moment.

                Shadow makes a sharp, deep growl, and Spinner lifts their head to respond. Belle makes a note to bring crayons next time: maybe they will be easier to handle.

                “I’m going to help you,” she says. “Screw waiting for Blue to tell us what to do.”

                She bullies Whale into it: he’s afraid of Regina, as well as Dr. Blue. But Spinner and Shadow get secure rooms connected by a bathroom, and scrubs, and actual beds and chairs. Regina just shrugs, and says she’s writing a report about the whole capture of them, and their study, and a record of Dr. Blue’s orders, so that the three of them don’t go to jail for kidnapping.

                “It’s a lot of waiting,” Belle tells Spinner. The two aliens tend to stay in the same room: the one designated for Shadow is untouched. Spinner sleeps on the bed; Shadow stays on the floor. She doesn’t try and get them to talk: they have both tried, and all that’s come forth is both of them getting frustrated when all that comes out is the high and low chirps, hisses, and growls.

                Belle thinks Spinner actually likes her: they don’t have the same reticence with her as they do with Whale and Regina. Both of them, she thinks, amuse Spinner somewhat. Nothing amuses Shadow, with the exception of Regina’s tablet, which she plays music on. The alien will occasionally deign to watch an episode of some comedy when Regina draws blood. Spinner will lean up against her back, as if seeking body heat, while she sits on the bed and works on reports.

                She brings them things she think they might like: Spinner, for all that they get frustrated trying to use any kind of drawing implement, ties and braids strings with no problem. They seem happy to have the scrubs instead of the handmade, rough robes, and wash their face and hands in the sink frequently. Belle has the idea that they can understand her somewhat, and she tries to speak slowly so that they can follow her.

                Regina tries to get Shadow to eat, with no luck. The alien’s scaled arm is getting noticeably thinner, but they don’t object to Regina’s taking blood pressure and temperature every day. Spinner is tense whenever Regina examines Shadow, but if Belle is there, they calm down somewhat. They make her a yarn bracelet one day, and she starts crying over the gift, and the injustice of the situation. Spinner gives a frustrated sigh, and Belle wants to scream. She considers her and Spinner to be friends, and certainly Shadow tolerates all of them, but no one is learning anything.

                In fact, as time passes, everyone is getting more and more frustrated. They can’t communicate, and Shadow doesn’t even eat the fruit and meat at all anymore. They’ve changed into the provided clothes, but Belle thinks Spinner made them. Spinner paces endlessly, making unhappy sounds at Shadow, who ignores them, sitting with their chin on their knees.

                Her cultures have grown: mostly indigenous bacteria, but a few from other planets. Belle makes a note of it, and wonders if any of the colonists have come in contact with the aliens and not said anything. Maybe afraid of losing their new, abundant planet.

                “They look a lot like the little lizards that live in the trees,” Regina says, at their weekly meeting. “In terms of the colors of their scales, and whatnot.”

                “They mostly look like humans,” Belle replies. She has a terrible feeling about the whole thing, and hasn’t slept well in the three weeks since it started. Every day, she is tempted to let them go. The two aliens shouldn’t be held inside a lab, kept from their planet.

                “I want to go back to the shuttle, and never feel bad about killing a mouse again,” Whale says. “Is Blue getting the files we’re sending her, or does she just not care?”

                “She’s stalling,” Regina mutters darkly. “And so are we, but what else can we do?”

                Belle figures out what else she can do, and orders the sequencing of Spinner and Shadow’s DNA. She’s looking through the results, trying to work out what they mean, a horrible feeling rising in her stomach. At first sight, she thought Regina was right, and they are a relative of the little tree lizards, but that’s not it.

                She’s reaching for her phone, calling up Whale, when the door to the lab swings open. It’s late at night, and no one should be in now. Belle turns, surprised to see the silhouette of Dr. Madra Blue in the doorway.

                “Dr. Blue!” she exclaims, trying to close the results on her screen. “Thank goodness you’re back!” She doubts it really is, but she can’t think of what else to say.

                “Not coping well without me?” she asks, in her pleasant voice. “Dr. Mills’s reports don’t mention any trouble.”

                “Just, you know, better four people than three to manage all this. Some of my bacterial experiments have fallen to the wayside.” That’s because she’s been trying to keep the two aliens company in their imprisonment. She stands up from her computer. “I was about to leave.”

                Before Blue can ask her to stay, she hurries off, putting her phone to her ear.

                “Dr. French, what’s going on?” Whale sounds harried.

                “Blue’s back,” she said. She hears the door to the lab close, and Blue’s shoes approaching, and breaks into a run, fear rising up in her chest.

                “I don’t even know if that’s a good thing anymore,” Whale sighs.

                “Listen to me! It’s very bad. Get Regina on this call.”

                Regina sounds sleepy and irked. Belle steps into a chemical storage closet and locks the door behind her, listening for Blue’s steps.

                “I went ahead and sequenced the DNA.” Belle presses a hand to her stomach. “And the results were a nearly complete human genome, a good portion of the local tree lizard genome, and the remnants of a viral vector.”

                “What?” Regina exclaims. Belle winces, turning the sound on her phone down.

                “So they’re part human? How does that even make sense?”

                “No,” Belle persists. They’re not seeing the full picture. “They’re experiments. From twenty years ago. The human sequences match two samples from the first humans on K15-03, the first subjects who evaluated the planet for its livability. Those teams usually stay, but all of the Enchanted Forest’s initial colonists left.”

                “I wonder if they really did,” Regina says, voice subdued. “These two didn’t.”

                “Well, there were two scientists on the initial team: some guy named Blade Zoso, and, Madra Blue.”

                “Shit,” Whale says. “She must know who they are.”

                “So is she going to let them out, now that she’s back?” Belle wants to wring her hands. “I can’t believe this is legal, what is she going to say to _us?_ ”

                “It’s not legal,” Regina says darkly. “And I doubt she wants to let them out, she probably wants to get rid of them.”

                “Well, get down here _right away_ ,” Belle snaps. She is only a little smaller than Dr. Blue: they’re probably about the same strength. She puts on PPE, grabs some bottles of acid, and heads to the room where Spinner and Shadow are.

                She beats Dr. Blue there, probably because the other doctor went to the room they were first kept in. She’s standing outside the door when the woman rounds the corner.

                “What are you doing?”

                “Look, they’re obviously sentient. We’ve had two _humans_ locked up in here for three weeks. Shadow is so depressed they’re not eating!”

                “Dr. French, I think you have an overactive imagination. Human experimentation that would result in such changed physiques is illegal, and this government doesn’t colonize planets with indigenous sentient life.” She folds her hands together in front of herself. “Just because these aliens have social behavior and are bipedal doesn’t make them humans.”

                “Their DNA does,” Belle bursts out. “You let the three of us flounder, wondering what was happening, and you had to know. That’s why you wanted to personally supervise the sequencing, so you could cover it up.”

                Blue glares at her, and then stiffens, lifting her chin.

                “Dr. French, you know that for progress, some people have to sacrifice things. These two people have sacrificed a lot. The fact that they’ve survived is a testament to the animal instinct to live. But they aren’t human anymore.”

                “Don’t act like you know!” Belle cries. “How dare you say that, they are!”

                “I lost, too! Dr. Zoso and the rest of the subjects died, and we couldn’t present any of our results. All that they gave up, and the human race got nothing!”

                “What could even be the point of doing that to people?”

                Belle throws the bottle of dilute hydrochloric acid as Blue suddenly rushes forward.

                “I don’t trust you with them!” she said.

                “Dr. French, that’s assault!” But she jumps back, shaking drops from her coat.

                “And human experimentation is a crime, too,” another voice says. Regina is coming down the hallway. “You know, my mother taught me. And she went to jail for what you’ve covered up. I helped expose her myself.”

                “Where’s Whale?” Belle asks.

                Blue scoffs. “Whale has every reason to cover this up. If he was found out to be involved in another ethically dubious experiment, he’d be arrested. He doesn’t have the clean records you two have.”

                “I’m going to send a file to the authorities,” Belle pulls her phone out of her coat.

                “No, bad idea,” Regina cuts in. “They must know.”

                “Well, what then?” Belle demands.

                “Put down the chemicals, you lunatic,” Regina says. “And go in there and tell them you’ve figured out what’s going on, and we’re going to work on fixing it.” She steps forward, grabs Blue hard by the shoulder. “The good thing about remote outposts on new colonies is no one’s really checking in. And another thing my mother taught me, Dr. Blue, is how to motivate people.”

~

                Belle comes in, shaking. She smells like fear, even more than usual. He sits up: she’s smiling. He’s gotten a lot better at working out what she says, since she’s spent so much time with them. He doesn’t mind the name she calls him, and wishes he could say hers.

                She looks at them very seriously, wiping at her mouth with her hand. The other one—Belle calls her Shadow—even looks over. She hasn’t eaten in too long. He can’t quite understand what she says, but Shadow is suddenly agitated, furious and hopeful, telling him that they can have revenge and healing and racing towards the door.

                “No!” Belle exclaims, springing to her feet, but Shadow is already out.

                The hallway beyond is empty, and Belle is grabbing Shadow by the arm, and calling her something familiar.

                “Emma, Emma, it’s okay!” He can’t figure out the rest of it, but the sound of Shadow’s real name makes something echo fiercely in his brain.

~

                Whale swears a lot when Belle and Regina tell him their next job is to reverse-engineer the experiment. He swears even more at Blue for taking advantage of them, then sits down and gets to work.

                Regina quite mercilessly shackles Blue in the lab, and forges her reports. Since she came back as a surprise, none of the colonists in town are expecting her. Belle is half afraid of her, but she’s busy working on the virus that will take the DNA out of Shadow and Spinner.

                Their real names are Emma Cassidy and Rum Gold. They understand some of it, though something has disturbed their ability to understand written language, and to write in turn. Belle explains things as best as she can, listening to them call back and forth to each other. Rum huffs every time she calls him his real name.

                He’s both more friendly and more withdrawn since they’ve figured it all out.

                “I know we’re the same species,” Belle tells him, wondering how much he understands. She’s working on finding pictures of Emma Cassidy and Rum Gold in the old records of K15-03. In the meantime, she goes outside with them from time to time.

                The cure is simple: four injections, for the four most damaged parts of their genomes. Whale thinks they’ll still have some odd characteristics, but nothing too severe.

                “The important thing will be getting their brains back to the point where they speak and communicate as they want to.”

                “Why would anyone do this?” Belle wonders. It’s Regina who finds the answer, going through Blue’s encrypted files. An experiment for longevity and health: the numerous lizards on K15-03 live over a hundred years each: no cancer, no disease. Whale just mutters that he couldn’t find records of consent forms, so Blue and Zoso were working on unsuspecting people.

                She finds photos of both of them: Emma is a beautiful blonde woman, with forceful eyes, and Rum is a handsome brown-haired man with a guarded, kind expression. She takes prints to them, and they hug, chirping, and then Rum turns and hugs her. She should be surprised, but she really isn’t, and hugs him back, as Whale and Regina pass her the syringes with the first injections.

                Both of them wince as she administers it, and Belle’s stomach clenches at the thought of it actually hurting either of them, rather than helping.

                But it works: gives them human appetites, and metabolisms.

                The second and third don’t result in any obvious physical changes, but both of them lie down for a few days, throwing up frequently. Rum says her name on the fifth day, and she bursts into tears and hugs him.

                “Belle,” he rasps again. She lets him pick her up and spin her a little bit. Emma snorts, and it sounds much more human. Language, and vocal cords, then.

                They’re still a bit raspy, and inclined to snort and huff and click their tongues, but they both lose their voices after a half day of having them.

                “How long have we been like this?” Rum asks, running his clawed hand through his hair. “It was hard to tell.”

                “It’s twenty years since the two of you were reported as missing,” Belle says, and winces as Emma lets out a scream and runs out of the room. “Oh no.” For his part, Rum looks devastated, face in his hand. Belle squeezes his shoulder.

                “Her son was one when the two of us were taken for the experiments,” Rum says. “She’s my daughter-in-law. I can’t believe…my son and grandson must think we’re dead.”

                Belle wants to call in someone; Regina is working on contacting the same people who dealt with her mother, ten years ago.

                “We don’t want any of Blue’s corrupt cronies handling this,” she insists. “Jefferson’s the best.”

                The five of them sit down to discuss the last treatment.

                “This is for the last significant portion of your genome that’s missing,” Whale says. “We would have given you the others first, let you make all the decisions, but we couldn’t tell you, and we don’t know what each treatment does, exactly. We’re just putting back what’s been broken without really understanding it.”

                “So this will make us look normal again,” Rum says.

                Whale spreads his hands. “We’re not sure, is what I’m saying.”

                To her surprise, Rum looks over at Belle. She frowns in return.

                “What do you think?” he asks.

                “It’s not my right to advise you on this, this is your life.”

                “You don’t have any thoughts on whether or not we should proceed? On making us all the way human again?”

                “That’s a philosophical question, really, whether it’s having all your DNA that makes you truly human.”

                “I mean, having a human appearance,” he says, catching her eyes and holding them. “You don’t--?” Belle feels herself blush. They are close, now, but he will want to leave to find his son and other family. She will be here—well, she wants to leave too, if she thinks about it. Leave Regina to clean up the mess legally. Government research is kind of soured for her now.

                “It’s not my decision,” she says, but she leans her head onto his shoulder, and he puts his arm around hers. It makes her feel hopeful, and better than she has since the whole thing started.

                They both take the last injection, and the physical change is remarkable. They both lose the reptilian scales, but retain the discoloration, faint raised scars where the scales were. Emma and Rum’s hair starts growing in their natural color, but the bones of their feet stay wider.

                “You’re a bit warmer now,” Belle tells Rum, putting her hands on either side of his face. He frowns slightly at her. He frowns a lot: it was hard to tell on his scaled face, but easy now

                “Well, my skin is exposed now,” he points out.

                “You’re missing the point,” she says, and pulls him in a little closer to her. He blinks down at her, still unused to the practice of cuddling. He and Emma used to huddle together for heat in the valley, he’s said, but sharing contact for the sake of it is not very reptilian, and he used to not be able to stand it for very long.

                “Oh?” he asks, voice a little raspy, and not from his newly restored vocal cords. Belle nods, and presses her lips against his gently.

                It’s an odd kiss, his mouth still, unmoving under hers, but hands suddenly fervent on her back. Belle laughs a little at the feel of his racing pulse.

                “I think we’re both going to have to adjust to do this,” she says. He pulls back, still a bit shy, even with her.

                “Sorry. I remember doing some of this, but a lot of my past is blurry, and I don’t know exactly what is acceptable. For humans.”

                “Well, we can figure it out.” She leans back against him. “Just tell me, I can’t read lizard body language.”

                “And I can’t smell you anymore,” he says quietly. Belle sits upright, almost knocking her head into his chin.

                “What do you mean, _smell_ me?”

~

                Belle comes with him, even though Blue isn’t going to be tried. The investigator Regina found just takes her away, and advises him and Emma to stay under the radar.

                Neal and Henry still live on H6-17, a long journey away, and he hates the shuttle. It’s worse than being in the laboratory building, a thousand times worse. Belle holds him when he needs holding, and gives him as much space as he needs. She’s patient, when his first instinct is still to make some sound only Emma will understand, not speak. He tries to be patient in turn, when she talks faster than he can understand.

                He likes holding her: it’s something he mostly forgot about, being close to other people, but he likes it. He’s remembered how to worry, and he worries constantly on the shuttle, so holding Belle, or listening to her voice, pushes the worry away. Sometimes he gets a shock of desire for her, but it’s not the time, so he waits, and she just laughs and smiles and says she prefers gravity to be involved.

                Emma says they will never be human again, but being perfectly human doesn’t seem to be necessary. He knows Neal and Henry won’t mind, and Belle doesn’t mind. That is one thing he doesn’t worry about, despite the mottling on his skin and his changed bones.

                “You helped me remember who we were before you even started the treatments,” he tells Belle, as she’s watching the stars float by the window.

                “You helped me, too,” she says. “Even if it took me three weeks.”

                Three weeks isn’t much out of twenty years, he knows, but there are a lot of feelings related to those twenty years, so he just nods and hums softly, then remembers to do the human thing, and takes her hand as well.


End file.
